For a while now, my friend Lacy and I have been chatting on the topic of “happiness”. What is it? Where does it come from? How do we get more of it? What makes us really happy? What makes one person a “happy person” and another not? The questions are endless, but the research, it turns out, is fun! We have in no way become experts, but have learned one thing: Happiness is, among other things, a practice. So like anything else we want to do better, we must make it a habit.
Lacy has been ‘practicing’ for a long time now, and I feel she has a lot to share on the topic. So when I decided to start this blog, I asked her if she would do regular guest-posts to talk about it. I plan to make a habit of reading them. xoxo, Leigh
Lighten up to Brighten up!
It’s as involuntary as breathing in and out… you read one of her cards and say to yourself Y-E-S! Sometimes it’s a small little soft yes that says that her words touched your heart in such a tender way and sometimes is a gigantic billboard sized YES to symbolize that OMG DUH- how does she always said it just right?! I call it her YES factor, Leigh has it in bucket loads and every time I read one of her cards it’s there again. When I read “Just wait until you see what is possible when you shine your little light on the world” it got me thinking… In order to truly shine we have to recharge.
Each year I choose a word and with it comes a list of goals. This year my word is lighten and one of my goals is a Sunday Unplug to Recharge. It’s a time where I pry my phone and computer from my hands and turn everything OFF. I completed my first successful Silent Sunday last week and I gotta say it was HARD for me to do but totally worth it. I saw my phone sitting on the table all day and resisted the urge to pick it up like a 100 times. I went into my studio, cleaned, puttered and had an entire day technology free and this brilliant thing happened. I found myself completely transformed. The day-to-day stress of endless to do list’s was replaced with conversations with myself and singing show tunes.
The next day I woke up ridiculously happy so much so that my husband said —yeah so Silent Sunday is my favorite thing ever.
At the root of happiness is an undeniable light. How you cultivate your light to completely up to you. It doesn’t have to be Silent Sunday in your house but I strongly suggest you find something that will recharge you and then make a standing appointment with yourself and defend it with wild enthusiasm.
Here’s to shining brightly together!
Lacy
Lacy Young is a professional happy person. You can find out more about her on her blog.
